Dennis helps Warwick continue run to Peninsula District boys soccer tournament title game

CaptionMenchville 3, Warwick 2

Rob Ostermaier/Daily Press

Jack Nichting of Menchville celebrates after hitting the game winning goal in the third overtime to beat Warwick 3-2 Thursday at win the Peninsula District Tournament championship in Gloucester.

Jack Nichting of Menchville celebrates after hitting the game winning goal in the third overtime to beat Warwick 3-2 Thursday at win the Peninsula District Tournament championship in Gloucester. (Rob Ostermaier/Daily Press)

GLOUCESTER — As many times as Warren Dennis heard throughout his high school years at Warwick he should've tried his hand at football, it's a wonder he didn't cave and put the pads on his hulking frame.

Warwick's boys soccer program is grateful he never gave into the pressure. His value to the team was evident Tuesday night when he scored two goals to lead No. 6 seed Warwick to a 3-2 win against No. 2 Gloucester in the Peninsula District boys soccer tournament semifinals at Gloucester High.

"During my freshman year, we went to the district finals," said Dennis, a 6-foot-2, 234-pound senior who will play soccer at Howard University. "Then, in my sophomore year, we lost to Kecoughtan in the (district) semifinals. This game (against Gloucester) was a great experience, especially if we can go on to regionals. That would be a big plus."

With No. 4 Menchville (10-2) upsetting top seed Kecoughtan 2-0 Tuesday in the other boys semifinal, it sets up a critical pair of games Thursday in terms of determining Eastern Region tournament participants.

Denbigh's girls will play Menchville at 5 p.m. at Gloucester High to determine the district tournament champion and award a region tournament berth to accompany district regular-season winner Gloucester. At 7 p.m., Warwick's boys will play Menchville in the district tournament title game, and the winner will go to the region tournament along with district regular-season champion Kecoughtan (10-6).

Warwick (6-4-2) has taken an unlikely path to the district tournament championship game.

It had to score three goals last Thursday in a frantic final few minutes to tie Bethel in the quarterfinals before going on to beat the Bruins in penalty kicks. The upset of Gloucester (8-6-1) was a continuation of Warwick's unlikely run.

"Truthfully, the problems for us arose from not falling back in transition and finding our marks and not finishing our chances," Gloucester coach Trey Sowers said. "It was more than just one kid. (Dennis) does attract a lot of attention, but we were able to use one player to mark him."

Dennis got the scoring started with 24:30 left in the first half when he put in a rebound of a missed shot off the left post by teammate Andrew Smith. Gloucester bounced back to tie it before the half when Justin Hansford scored with 6:30 remaining.

Smith made good on a shot with 24:30 left in the game to put Warwick back ahead 2-1, but Gloucester knotted it up once again via a Kyle Rowe goal with 7:38 remaining. Finally, Dennis capped the scoring when he fought off a challenge from a defender and belted a goal with 6:16 left.

Dennis' strength came in handy on the final goal. It's that same strength that drew attention from high school football coaches.

"Everybody at my school, when they see me in the weight room, asks me 'Why aren't you playing football?' " said Dennis, who has played soccer since he was 4.

While Dennis stole the show in the dramatic first boys semifinal, Menchville put Kecoughtan on its heels early.

Jack Nichting put Menchville ahead 1-0 less than three minutes into the game with a short-range goal. Scott Cooper added another goal for Menchville with 26 minutes left.

After those two scores, Menchville did an excellent job of passing and filling open spots on the field. Kecoughtan couldn't muster much of an offensive surge in the second half.

"We've been playing really well as a team with the way we possess it and pass it and build up our play," Menchville coach Dan Liebler said. "We struggled with scoring goal for a long time, but (Tuesday night) we did well right out of the gate."